For a while now I have been wanting to make a good vegan cupcake. I work with a lot of vegans and after years of organising managers meetings where all the food is vegetarian and vegan I have seen the pain the vegans go through when all they are offered is fruit for dessert.

But I have tried them before. And they were a disaster. They looked disgusting and sunk in the middle. So I asked a fellow baker who is a vegan and she recommended a book – Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World.

There are so many good looking cupcakes in this book and after the success of my first bake I can safely say I will be trying more!

And I managed to do a great test – my sister and her husband popped round just after these were baked. I didn’t let on that they were vegan and they both thought they were absolutely beautiful. My husband then tried some and also said you would not know they were vegan. Mission complete.

Ingredients for the Sponge:

245ml soya milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

150g granulated sugar

75g rapeseed oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1tbs cherry brandy

140g plain flour

35g cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a muffin pan with cases

Whisk together the soya milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle

Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract and cherry brandy to the soya milk mixture and beat until foamy

In a seperate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt

Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until smooth

Pour into the liners filling three-quarters of the way

Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean

Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely

Ingredients for the Saucy Cherries

285g frozen cherries, thawed (Tesco were out of stock so I had to use a tin of Black cherry fruit filling)

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tbsp ground arrowroot

3 tbsp pomegranate juice or water

Method:

In a saucepan over a medium heat, combine the thawed cherries and their juice, and sugar

Stir till mixture starts to simmer, about 4-5 minutes

Whisk together the arrowroot and pomegranate juice in a small bowl then steadily pour into the cherries, stirring constantlly

Keep stirring – the mixture will rapidly thicken

Remove from heat and leave to cool to room temperature

Ingredients for the frosting and topping:

115g vegetable fat (Trex)

115g soya margarine

560g icing sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

60g soya milk

Chopped or shaved vegan chocolate

Candied cherries

Method:

Beat the Trex and soya margarine together until well combines and fluffy

Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes

Add the vanilla and soya milk, beat for another 5 to 6 minutes until fluffy

To Assemble:

Cut a small cone out of each cupcake and leave to the side

Pipe a small amount of frosting into each hole

Spoon at least 1 cherry on top of the frosting along with a spoonful of sauce

Pipe another dollop of frosting on top of the cherries

Gently (but firmly) place the cut out cake pieces on top

Top with another piping of frosting and then place a candied cherry on the top

Sprinkle the shaved chocolate over the top

These cupcakes taste best if allowed to sit for an hour before serving

These cupcakes are moist, rich in taste and look the part too. You could serve these up as dessert and no one would guess that they are vegan friendly.

Personally, I was put off when I saw the frosting had shortening (Trex vegetable fat) in it but I was pleasantly surprised when I tasted it. Wonderfully sweet and tasty. I looked into why Trex is used and this is what I found:

The brand of vegetable shortening readily found in the UK is Trex. It doesn’t have any ‘taste’ so it won’t add a strange flavour to your buttercream, but it will allow your icing to ‘stand up’. You can omit it and use equal amounts of dairy-free margarine but your buttercream will not hold its shape for very long and you run the risk of it separating. Q&A about vegan baking with Ms Cupcake

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Welcome to Sunday Baking! I started this blog at the start of 2013 and it's taken me on a wonderful journey. A lot has changed in the last few years and you will now see more refined sugar free recipes (although don't worry....if you have a sweet tooth I will still be featuring regular sweet stuff too!).
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Happy Baking!
Rachel x

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